Rockezine.com interview with Fear Factory on Apr 02, 2001

with Burton C Bell on Apr 02, 2001

I`m annoyed! Why? Because I`ll rather be at the Lowlands Festival seeing all these nice bands than working here in a far too hot office. But to stay in the right mood, and to give you all a little nice present when you get back from the festival or had to stay at home, I`m happy to share some thoughts that Rockezine had with Fear Factory`s Burton C. Bell just a while ago….
		It has been 3 years before Fear Factory brought out a new album. Was there any pressure from the record company to bring out some new material? Not by the company, but more by ourselves. We bring out a record every 3 years. We`ve been touring for 2 years and took 1 year to write and record the new album. We definitely wanted to try something different, being a band with our own sound and identity. That drove us to do the best we could.
		What have the reactions been on "Digimortal" so far? Very positive! But it might take some time before you get it. Today a guy told me that the first time he listened to it, he thought it was just a normal thing. Even though he already heard that it was a little different. He had to listen to the album about five times before he really understood and saw where it`s all coming from. He likes it now, but it took him a few sessions.
		To be honest, even after hearing this CD a couple of times we still don`t know what to think of it…. Well, I haven`t heard this reaction before! Most people are into it. I only think it takes some time to grow.
		Perhaps that`s true, but as a matter of fact there are some prominent changes on the album. For example we do miss your "grunts" on the album I like to challenge myself and to try something different. I`m getting bored with doing the same thing all the time, so it changes with every new record.
		Is it possible that we also sense less anger on the "Digimortal" album? In the past there was always a theme of "man vs. machine". Did these two join together now? In peace? That`s the idea behind the whole concept. That man and machine come together. In the past the "man vs. machine" theme brought out some quite complex songs. And over the years we learned that these songs performed live didn`t make it. The people like it but it grew a bit above their heads. When we sat down to do this record, we decided that some things had to evolve with Fear Factory. We couldn`t do the same thing over and over again! We looked at all the songs of Fear Factory and asked ourselves: "What are the best parts in these songs?" And in the meantime we wandered: "What isn`t cool?" We figured out that it was just too much and a little too excessive.
		This new record is a straight line with a very futuristic sound. It doesn`t sound like anything out there right now. It`s simplified. You`re right, there isn`t much anger on this record, it`s an aggression with intensity but it isn`t anger. We`ve reached the maturity in ourselves. We were all very focused on this album, working together like a well oiled machine.
		But what happened with the anger? When I was 20 years old I was angry, but I`ve learned to work it through. My mind is on other things now. I`ve come to terms with some aspects of this world that you cannot change. The last two years I explored different parts of my own life. I`ve learned a lot of things I could normally not even study. I realised that the anger had to stop, it was infecting me too much. I can`t live like that anymore.
		We think that that emotions can be an enormous drive… Me too! But my emotions are directed somewhere else. Thinking about the meaning of life and that kind of stuff. What`s a soul? Consciousness and unconsciousness. I`m kind of getting bored with the anger stuff, I`m focusing on other things now,
		How does that reflect on the new record? To me "Digimortal" is a record that defines Fear Factory after all the things we`ve gone through. We`ve come through the change, intensity and darkness. It`s a dark record, but not as dark as "Obsolete" (1998), which was very dark.
		The sound, mixing, ambience, everything was very moody. Obsolete did reflect a black period in our life. "Demanufacture" (1995) was a vicious record. At that moment we went through a lot of personal shit. Whatever you might think that could happened to us, happened to us. All the bad things. That`s why this album became very vicious but cold and mechanical at the same time. As you can see, every record reflects a period of our lives. And this is how we`re feeling now, we`re evolving as individuals.
		So, it`s like crystal clear water. All kinds of beautiful fishes, but if you look beyond that you`ll find the ground. And that`s where the true message lays. Maybe it looks peaceful but you have to search deeper… That`s in general the concept of the album. When you look into the future, you wonder: "Will we live in peace?" When we look upon this world to see what`s happening. Technology is progressing further and further every year. Humanity is evolving slowly, but it`s still evolving.
		What do you think the future will be like? Man and machine become one. It happens in every kind of mix. It destroys it and doesn`t accept it, or it absorbs it. Technology had become such an prominent aspect of our entire world. Over the years the event of technology will become so amazing and so far that it will be able to mobilize in forms. Evolution will take on machines as well. Bionics, Cybernetics. Just think about artificial body parts, prostheses.
		The biggest part of the world is just too poor to reach for that kind of technology, what do you think that will happen to them? But the part of the world who has it, is imprinting it everywhere. So everybody knows it even if they can`t effort it. In the end technology and humanity will be evolving together.
		But when they do, what will happen with them on a spiritual level? That`s a good question. Is the soul real? Is consciousness equal to a soul? What will happen to religion in the future? They talk about the second coming, but how will we know?!
		What are you`re feelings towards religion? For me there has always been a struggle towards organised religion. They teach you to fear God, I just don`t get it. Do you know what will happen when humanity figures out the key to immortality? What happens to faith and the survival of the fittest? And yes, there will still be poor people and the future that can`t effort the luxury of immortality. If that is a luxury. Those will be the people that will say: "Back the fuck up, I will stay human and remain who I am!"
		And the future for Fear Factory? How do you think that you will evolve musically? Where do you get your inspiration from? I look at the world around me. I read a lot of books. Recently I read a book that`s called "The Age Of A Spiritual Machine". It describes the history of technology and how fast it`s moving. How the next 25 years the programming for artificial intelligence will develop.
		By the year 2020 there will be an artificial machine that makes judgement calls. It has a neural net diagram that`s totally revolutionary. It goes into the question if artificial intelligence will make these difficult decisions and starts learning judgement; it might start thinking for itself. What if a computer says to you; "I think, therefore I am". Is that consciousness?
		And when it knows that it`s alive, does that mean it has a soul? Isn`t that just collective memory? Can it have an emotion as well? One part of emotions is that we can touch, taste and feel. If you don`t program a computer with that, it will never have it. But they might learn to sense it…
		I can`t tell you how sorry we were when our time was up! But Mr. Burton definitely gave us something to think about. My final thoughts about Digimortal you may have already read, otherwise take a look at the album review. This background information will complete the puzzle which is indeed a fine peace of art. And concerning Burton C. Bell himself? Well, an `all this an brains too!` will suit him just fine! (Cyn Nederpel)